Celia C. Peters is an avant-garde director and award-winning screenwriter creating compelling stories of authentically diverse characters. Peters is a member of New York Women in Film and Television and the Writers Guild of America. She was awarded a 2012 residency at Hawthornden International Retreat for Writers in Midlothian, Scotland. Her psychologically inspired, character-driven screenwriting has been both prize-winning [Godspeed, 2011 African American Women in Cinema Film Festival; Roxë15, 2004 SFBFF] and recognized in competition.

Her filmmaker credits include the experimental performance piece, “Poem in Motion (2011),” the short documentary “Rethinking Beauty (2011),” and “Editing Uptown (2010),” a featurette on the nationally distributed DVD of the indie film, “Uptown.” In 2007, Peters produced a half-hour segment, “The State of Hip-Hop” for WHUT/PBS and her short film “Breakthrough (2006),” was broadcast nationally on BET’s The Best Shorts series.

Peters is also the creator and producer of the dramatic reading series “The Next 15 MinutesTM,” and has produced staged readings at Tribeca Film Center and the National Black Theater of Harlem. Her visual graphic art, photography and video work have shown at galleries in Detroit, New York, London and Dallas. Her experimental short “FIOFY (Figure It Out For Yourself)” was featured as an installation piece in “Conjuration,” an exhibit in tribute to Jean-Michel Basquiat in December 2011 in New York City and screened in the Festival of Art and Music revolution in London in April 2013.

Peters is an honors graduate of University Michigan with an honors B.A. in French and Political Science, and holds a Master’s degree in Public Policy from the University of Chicago.

As well, she has done graduate studies in clinical psychology at New York University. At the moment, Peters is developing her first feature film, the sci-fi project Godspeed, as well completing post-production of her sci-fi short film Roxë15.

Artist questions:

1. Describe for our readers the most compelling art piece you have made

The most compelling art piece I’ve ever made is an experimental video I did called FIOFY (Figure It Out for Yourself). I created it for a show commemorating Jean-Michel Basquiat, and in it, I wanted to capture the man himself --- as opposed to recreating his work. I used images and old public television footage of him, as well as audio of Basquiat’s voice. I wanted to show him as I understood him to be: a brilliant but vulnerable artist who lived and worked in a very exciting but very treacherous world, where he was largely not understood and not protected. I especially wanted to show his smile, which you rarely see in photos. The piece shows him over time from very early in his career, up to the end when he was clearly ravaged by heroin, inside and out.

2. Tell us about your best, most successful, or most fulfilling art show

My most fulfilling art show so far was the one I just did in Columbus --- Public Domain, which was a multi-media pop-up exhibit. I produced the show and it was my first foray as a curator. I really wanted to bring a new flavor to Columbus; something edgy and adventurous, but organically and with purpose....not just for the shock value. I loved curating and when the exhibit came together it was fantastic seeing the wide range of work that artists working in different media and different styles did using public domain content. The universe of the public domain is huge and each one of the artists delved into a completely different part of it. And then, the event itself was dreamy. Homeport Gallery is a beautiful space and the crowd was mixed in every way possible; people met and mingled, and they appreciated the show’s intent and vibe.

That was gorgeous! It was exactly what I was trying to create.

3. If you could work any other artists, alive or not, who would it be and why?

If I could, I would work with:

SALVADOR DALI --- because his work fascinates me, both in its fantastical surrealism, its scale and in a weird way, its minimalism. I’m very drawn to Dali’s work (he creates a different reality) and I feel very at home with it.

ANCIENT DOGON ARTISTS -- I’m intrigued by the Dogon people of Mali. Their culture has had advanced knowledge of astronomy and other science for centuries; and their history includes contact with intelligent extraterrestrial beings (which resonates with reports from ancient cultures in other parts of the world). I would like to know how Dogon knowledge of astronomy, math and science, and their belief systems informed the work of artists --- long before any contact with the West happened.

ANCIENT EGYPTIAN ARTISANS --- I love the majestic aesthetic of ancient Egyptian art and architecture. I would like to work with artisans who created jewelry and more intricate pieces.

Their metal work, use of color and patience is something I want to see firsthand.

JACOB LAWRENCE --- I would love to work with American painter Jacob Lawrence because he had a nervous breakdown that changed the appearance of his work in the midst of his career.

I really dig his style and the way his work tells a story, and I would like to know how whatever happened to his mind affected his understanding of creativity.

JMB --- Of course, I’d love to work w. Basquiat --- can you imagine what a blast that would be?!

4. How do you integrate art and politics or social justice issues?

I integrate art and social justice by being steadfast in producing atypical but authentic representations of people of color and women. Sometimes it’s literal, sometimes it’s figurative, sometimes it’s thematic. I also address political or social justice issues directly, particularly in documentary work. I think it’s critical to the process of representing the world and its people as they truly are ---- which traditionally seems largely missing in Western art. In the end, creating the space where I, as a woman and a person of color, am representing myself and the world through my own unique lens --- with the understanding that my perspective is just as valuable, valid and interesting as anyone else’s --- is a political statement in and of itself.

Celia’s website is: www.artisticfreedomfilmart.com.